That’s right, we love homebrewers. We are homebrewers ourselves so we know who you are, what you do and why you do it.

I remember the reason I started brewing at home. My brother brought a vanilla porter over to my house and after tasting it, I asked, “You brewed this?”. He grinned and replied, “Yup!” I was shocked. I had been enjoying the craft beer surge in the GTA for a few years, visiting numerous breweries, having some flights in their taproom and bringing a few bottles and cans home to enjoy later. I thought this level of quality was something you could never simulate at home.

A couple of years later and maybe 60 batches in, I am loving the craft and the hobby of brewing at home more and more. I love the community that exists through online forums, blogs and websites. There are a couple of fantastic homebrew clubs in the GTA that are well organized and offer opportunities to learn from each other. They provide a forum to get feedback on beers that its members have brewed through informal feedback sessions as well as more formal competitions.

I find homebrewers to be at the leading edge of beer styles and experimentation. The smaller scale allows them to be more adventurous. If they make a bad batch, the cost to make it is probably only $30-$50 and is not the end of the world to see that go down the drain. They are also not so concerned with the end cost and can try adding big amounts of fruit or crazy amounts of hops to the recipe. It is not a commercial venture so if the 20 litre batch cost you an extra $10-$15 for ingredients, it is worth it in the end if it tastes amazing.

Homebrewers also develop very good palates for beer and are able to provide great feedback on what makes a beer taste great and what might be off. While the batch size is smaller and the equipment is not as big or as complex as most commercial breweries, the process for making beer remains the same. We all go through the same basic steps in making the end product and we use the exact same ingredients. Because of this understanding, they are the best advocates for introducing friends to the wonderful world of craft beer.

We are going to do what we can to celebrate homebrewers and introduce others to this incredibly rewarding hobby. If you are a homebrewer, let us know when you drop into the taproom. We would love to chat about what you are making and get your feedback on what we are serving.